Beijing's fourfold rise in COVID-19 cases sparks concern in China; restrictions imposed

China is witnessing a rise in COVID-19 cases at a time when the crucial Communist Party Congress is being held in Beijing. Beijing's COVID cases have quadrupled in the past 10 days, with the tally rising from 49 COVID-19 infections to 197 infections. Despite being a city of 21 million people, the authorities have gone on and imposed quasi lockdown in the region. A complete lockdown in Beijing has not been imposed yet, but some residential areas are being locked down, in accordance with China's zero-COVID policy. 

In Beijing and other major Chinese cities, residential complexes are organised in walled blocks, with very few essential facilities. The lockdown of residential blocks also prevents the people living in those residential complexes from sending their children to school and forces them to work from home. Xi Jinping is all set to become China's leader for the third term and zero-COVID is a personal priority for President, according to a report from The Guardian. 

China's lockdowns are taking a toll on its economy

Meanwhile, China's zero-COVID policy is taking a toll on its economy as it is leading to factory closures in different parts of the country, as per a report by The Economist. The zero-COVID policy is causing a heightened sense of frustration amongst the people, signs of which were visible in demonstrations against Xi Jinping, but there is no sign of the Chinese administration backing down from this policy. "Put people and their lives above all else," said Xi Jinping, during his speech to the Congress, defending the zero-COVID policy. 

Chinese citizens are frustrated with lockdown measures 

Earlier this week, a 16-year-old girl reportedly died in China's COVID quarantine centre as she was denied access to medical care despite repeated pleas by her family. A video of the girl experiencing convulsions and struggling to breathe went viral on Chinese social media, leading to outrage and anger among the citizens. The video was watched by more than 700,000 people before the censors in China, who tightly monitors all posts on social media, took down the video.

Last month, a bus that was carrying people to a COVID quarantine centre crashed, leading to 27 deaths, which also resulted in similar ire against China's zero-COVID policy. As per a report by the Financial Times, China is sticking with its zero-COVID policy despite economic pain and public frustration because China has a significant amount of aged population and China's locally developed vaccines are not very effective.